The First Imperial President Jacksonian Era The First Imperial President

Expanding Democracy In the 1820s voter rights were expanding to the common man In order to vote you had to be a white, adult, property owning man but that began to change The majority of states had made it legal for any white man to vote regardless of his wealth Jackson was able to use this to his advantage Party conventions for nominating candidates was also created by Jackson’s supporters

The Spoil System When Jackson became president he fired a large group of the federal employees, some of who had been there since Washington In their place, Jackson put his own supporters This was known as the spoils system, where the person in power would give political positions as rewards for support

The Spoils system

New Politics Jackson wanted to disperse the powers of the federal government in order to make politics more representative and democratic At the same time, Jackson wanted to preserve the Union and was willing to go to any lengths to do so

The Tariff of Abominations The Federal Government had enacted a tariff on foreign good like cotton in order to promote the American economy The problem was that this tariff primarily benefitted the North who was able to produce their own goods The South’s economy, which bought cheap products from other countries to cloth their slaves, was harmed by this tariff

Calhoun and Nullification The new Vice President, Calhoun created the idea of nullification Nullification was the idea that the states had created the Federal Government so it was within the state’s power to nullify or void any federal law that they did not approve of While at a dinner party with Calhoun and many other politicians who were making toasts to states rights, Jackson made his own toast saying “Our Federal Union, it must be preserved!”

Mr. Crazy Hair Calhoun

The Nullification Crisis In 1832 South Carolina finally acted on nullification, refusing to pay duties to the Federal Government Jackson responded to this by strengthening federal forts in South Carolina and sending a war ship He also proposed what he called a force bill that allowed the president to use the military to make sure that congressional acts were carried out in the states

Nullification Crisis Not a single other state supported Calhoun and South Carolina Henry Clay came up with a compromise that kept the peace by lowering the tariff gradually over the years The compromise and the force bill both passed In South Carolina, the nullification was repealed but they also nullified the Force Act to show the federal government they could

The First Imperial President

Jackson and the Bank Jackson was very opposed to paper currency and therefore did not support the federal bank Henry Clay was a big supporter of the bank and was able to recharter the bank a few years early right before Jackson was up for reelection Jackson vetoed the bank’s recharter as Clay had expected and Clay who ran against Jackson was sure it would lead to his election Jackson still won however, and he was able to slowly kill the bank

Andrew Jackson

Democrats v Whigs At the rise of Jackson’s Democratic party, there came the rise of an opposing party, the Whigs This was the first time since the Federalists that there was a two party system again After Jackson’s retirement, his Vice President Van Buren easily won the election of 1836 The Whigs, unable to pick one candidate let several run hoping to split the vote enough to beat van Buren

Democrats Jacksonian Democrats main beliefs were that the Federal Government should have enough power to limit the corruption that lead to social and economic inequality They believed that states should have freedom in their decisions except when those decisions limits social and economic mobility They celebrated simple farmers, hardworking men, and small businessmen as opposed to the corrupt, monopolistic aristocracy The most radical Democrats were called “locofocos”

Whigs Whigs believed in the expansion of the Federal Government They were also strong proponents of industrial and commercial development They were fearful of westward expansion, believing that it would lead to instability When fear arose about the Freemasons, the Whigs ran campaigns against the Freemasons because Jackson and Van Buren happened to be Freemasons

The First Whig President The Whigs were a party for over twenty and only ever won two elections Henry Clay, a Whig ran for president three times and never won The first Whig president to get elected was William Henry Harrison They ran a campaign for Harrison trying to make him look like a common man when he was really a part of wealthy elite This became known as the Log Cabin Campaign

William Henry Harrison You might remember him from the battle at Tippecanoe when he fought against Tecumseh Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech in history at one hour and 45 minutes Even though it was freezing and raining, Harrison did not wear a coat and he caught a cold that turned into pneumonia He died after only 32 days in office